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the covenant, and apply only to Christ and to his spiritual seed. The latter belong to the dispensation of the covenant, and are applicable to all who hear the Gospel.

Were the question now to be asked,

Has every

man, under the Gospel, a dispensation of grace sufficient for his salvation?" I had much rather state certain premises, and leave the conclusion. On the one hand, it is a fact, that man in himself, and by nature, is" without strength." "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." Yet, on the other hand, every man under the Gospel is favoured with that discovery of mercy, and aid of the Spirit, which, if he perish in unbelief, will be found an awful aggravation of his guilt. In this reference, that beautiful metaphor is peculiarly applicable; "We behold with delight the colours of the rainbow; we clearly distinguish every one of them. Yet where is the accurate observer who will undertake to determine the exact point where one colour terminates, and another begins?" (Dr. Hawker's Sermon at Bermondsey.) The Lord give you understanding in all these things! Especially be it your wisdom and mine, to " give diligence to make our calling and election sure!"

I remain,

In the endearments of Christian affection,

Yours,

J. B,

LETTER II.

TO MR. AND MRS. B—.

MY DEAR J AND M~,

Tooting, January, 1797;

I AM glad of an opportunity, amidst the engagements of regular and pressing duty, of acknowledging your several welcome and affectionate letters. I rejoice with you in that mercy and truth by which your steps have been directed, and your souls refreshed. Hence it is, that the lines are fallen to you in pleasant places that you have many springs of rejoicing in the wilderness, and animating prospects beyond it. Godliness is profitable for both upper springs and nether springs-the life that now is, and that which is to come. What a mercy it is to be called by sovereign and effectual grace to follow Jesus, and to have a heart in a happy measure prepared of God to follow him fully; looking to him as the Centre of our affections, and the Source of our consolations; sitting at his feet, and implicitly submitting our understandings to be illumined by that heavenly Sun, "the Father of Lights," in whom is no darkness at all; at all; yielding ourselves to him, content and thankful for the inheritance of this life he has allotted us, satisfied with the Saviour he has provided for us, and desiring to indulge no wish that does not perfectly

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harmonize with the expressions of his will concerning us, in his word, in his providence, or by his Spirit; fully persuaded, that all his paths are mercy and truth, the expressions of an everlasting and unalterable purpose of grace and love! Oh! to feel more and more the prevalence of such a temper in us! to rest our heart fixed at this Centre, our faith leaning on this Rock, the desire of our whole soul directed to this Fountain of Life, and only solicitous to glorify God in our bodies and our spirits, which are his! O! what inward strength, what sweet peace, what rich content, what cheerful hope, should we then find amidst clouds and storms, amidst the duties and cares and troubles of life! "Great peace have they who love thy law, and nothing shall offend them." They will not easily be seduced by the allurements of worldly prosperity; for when the face of a smiling God appears, the' glory of the world passeth away, and they find here an abundant counterbalance for all the sorrows of the world. O'! what a mercy to know God, or rather to be known of him! to see in the operations of his grace, and in the conduct of his providence, the discovery of his everlasting love; and to hear him, with whom is no variableness, say, "I will not fail thee, till I have performed that which I have spoken to thee of! Great reason have I to sing of his faithful care, his condescending, unwearied, and abundant mercy, for these many days and years of my pilgrimage. I have not laboured,

as many even of his dear children have, under the heavy pressure of outward trouble; nor has he appointed me long nights of disconsolate darkness, and left me to suffer the agony of a wounded spirit, and to lament in vain an absent God. "He knows our frame, he remembereth that we are but dust; therefore has he shewn me his tender mercies. Nay, he has made all his goodness to pass before me; he has accompanied the bitterest cup, which he has put into mine hand, with the kindest expressions of his love, and enabled me to gather the choicest and most beneficial fruits from the most piercing sorrows: and O! how great is his goodness which he has wrought for me! how rich his bounty, how multiplied his favours, and how constantly renewed! How many creature-comforts has he rendered comforts indeed, making them the medium by which to convey the sweet expressions of his love, the fulfilment of covenant promises, the returns of prayer!

But the burden of my prayer, and, I trust, the earnest desire of my soul, is, to have a heart prepared to shew forth the praises of the Lord, to serve him with fervent affection, and at the same time in simplicity and godly sincerity; to pursue no other end but his glory, and to feel the mighty influence of his dying love more and more constraining me. Alas! that amidst the experience I have of the great mercy of God, I should have reason to acknowledge, with grief and shame, the want of more fer

vour of spirit, and more singleness of heart, in serving. the Lord; and that, under such obligations, my heart should prove like the deceitful, and therefore ineffectual, bow, whose arrow wants a right direction, or a sufficient force, to bear it to the mark. "Unite my heart, O God, to fear thy Name!" Blessed be his Name! he has not, I trust, withheld his grace from me in this respect: he has given me time after time to see reason to suspect and closely to examine my heart: he has laid me low in shame and grief before him; but I trust he has given me more grace, and enabled me to serve him more in truth and love. I trust the time to favour our little hill of Sion is come a time of refreshing it seems to be. But we would rejoice with trembling. May no accursed thing be found amongst us; nothing to grieve the good Spirit of our God!

I rejoice, my dear children, in the mercy shewn you in providence and grace, respecting time and eternity. This God, I trust, will be your God for ever and ever. He will be your children's God after you; and this is an inheritance that rises high above all price, but that of the precious blood of Christ. "Tis too well secured for the boar out of the wood to waste, or the policy of earth or hell to alienate; and it is too excellent for time itself to destroy; it is eternal in the heavens. Oh! be it your concern to live near this God of love. That is a seat of relief from distracting cares, from over

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